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The Chinese swapping chunky jewellery for a plunge into the stock market and Germans and Swiss hoarding gold bars because of the euro crisis are two standouts in a volatile market, the World Gold Council has reported.

The latest quarterly demand statistics show that gold demand in the first quarter was down by 1 per cent at 1,079 tonnes. However, detailed market and geographical data reveal more erratic trends.

“In China, jewellery demand dropped 10 per cent as a rising stock market diverted money into equities,” the World Gold Council said.